DOCK WORKERS FIGHT BACK: WHY ILWU WON'T BE BUSH'S PATCO
By Milt Neidenberg
The Taft-Hartley injunction issued on Oct. 8 has deepened the crisis
on the docks.
In a double whammy aimed at the International Longshore and Warehouse
Union, first the Pacific Maritime Association locked out the union's
10,500 members, and then the Bush administration stepped in illegally
to force them back to work for 80 days without a contract.
Well into the injunction's second week, problems continue to ratchet
up. Although some goods are trickling through, gridlock, congestion
and confusion continue to plague the maritime industry.
The class struggle is heating up, too. Negotiations between the PMA
and the union are to resume soon.
The ILWU attributes the crisis on the docks to the snarls created by
the lockout. Increased productivity vs. safety continues to be the
issue in the ongoing war with the PMA.
The docks are unsafe. Before the lockout, the union shut down the Port
of Los Angeles for 30 minutes, responding to congestion, speedup and
dangerous conditions. It reminded the PMA that five workers had been
killed over the previous seven months.
Since the injunction, accidents have sent several workers to the
hospital. To alleviate the crisis, the union has begun a campaign to
pressure the PMA to hire and train more workers to move the cargo. The
PMA has rejected the proposal.
CARGO PILES UP ON DOCKS
The Oct. 16 Wall Street Journal echoed the bosses' line in an article
headlined "Port Operators Accuse Dockworkers of Slowdown." However,
ILWU spokesperson Steve Stallone vehemently denies the PMA charges. He
says the problem is that "the incoming cargo far outpaces the outbound
capacity of trains and trucks."
In the same article the Journal admitted, "Union Pacific Railroad, the
nation's largest railroad, has announced an allocation plan that
limits dock customers to the same amount of space they used 30 days
earlier." This is a blow to the PMA and the West Coast Waterfront
Coalition, which represents transnational corporations that do
business in Asia.
Railroads are a key mover of cargo containers, which are loaded piggy-
back onto freight trains. The American Trucking Association
recommended to the PMA that terminal operators extend the hours the
truck gates are open, as trucks continue to be backed up for miles.
Estimates are that over 200 ships are waiting in and around the 29
West Coast ports--over 100 ships outside Los Angeles and Long Beach
alone. This means transoceanic ships are also backed up in their home
ports abroad. Terminals are packed sky-high with containers that have
no place to go.
These problems have been created by the PMA lockout. The PMA strategy
is to frame the union in order to get a court order forcing the rank
and file to work faster at the risk of safety from the federal judge
who issued the temporary injunction.
The ILWU also faces the threat of intervention by the military. In
sworn testimony read at the Oct. 7 hearing on a Taft-Hartley
injunction, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld injected the
government's war plans against Iraq. His affidavit stated: "The
Department of Defense increasingly relies upon commercial items and
practices to meet its requirements ... raw materials, medical
supplies, replacement parts and components, as well as everyday
subsistence needs of our armed forces, are just some of the essential
military cargo provided by commercial contractors."
The Department of Defense has contracts with many shipping companies
to carry "essential military cargo." For example, Maersk Sealand, a
powerful PMA member, is the world's biggest shipping corporation. The
corporation is one of the main contractors for the U.S. military. Many
of its ships sail to the Middle East, continually carrying military
cargo. Dock workers in Copenhagen, Denmark, have demonstrated at the
company's headquarters there in sympathy with the ILWU.
RUMSFELD WANTS WAR ON BACKS OF WORKERS
Rumsfeld's ultimatum broadens the military's role on the docks. His
affidavit declares that the Department of Defense "increasingly relies
upon commercial items and practices." Their frenzied preparations for
war will inevitably increase inhuman speedup and take a heavy toll on
the health and safety of the rank and file. The ILWU is determined to
resist and make safety its top priority.
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney has announced that safety is the
number-one issue for labor. It would be timely if the labor federation
were to organize a National Workers' Safety Day to back up the ILWU.
It would send a message to the Bush administration that the organized
labor movement is prepared to take independent mass action to defend
these embattled workers.
The threat from the Defense Department to control the ports sets a
dangerous and illegal precedent that should concern all those forces
opposed to the pre-emptive attack on Iraq planned by the Pentagon and
Bush.
The Pentagon uses commercial shippers to transport 95 percent of its
military supplies. In fiscal 2003, which began on Oct. 1, the Pentagon
budget is expected to total almost $400 billion. The main
beneficiaries in the military- industrial complex are Lockheed Martin,
Northrop, Raytheon and General Dynamics--dominant players whose
profits have tripled since 1990.
While Wall Street tycoons are ripping off billions of dollars before
their companies go belly-up, millions in the multinational work force-
-organized and unorganized--are losing their jobs, unemployment
insurance, pensions, health benefits and decent education.
Homelessness is on the rise. Racism and immigrant bashing are
increasing at an alarming rate.
Workers are being driven into the ranks of the permanently unemployed
and poor who are flooding the food banks, church pantries and
charities to survive. They will become a powerful sector of the
growing anti-war movement, bringing grievances about their economic
hardships and their numbers into the streets.
They, like most of those polled, do not support a war against Iraq.
They will be the catalyst for a sector of the organized labor movement
to break away from the pro-war policies of most of the AFL-CIO
leaders. And it is already happening. Many members of organized labor
throughout the country, and a significant number of AFL-CIO central
labor councils, have endorsed the Oct. 26 mobilization against the
war on Iraq. The list is growing daily, and can be found on the
ANSWER coalition web site: www.internationalanswer.org.
An historic regroupment is in the making. History has confirmed
repeatedly that all profound economic and social change begins from
below. The Oct. 26 anti-war demonstrations in Washington, D.C., and
San Francisco will be a giant stride in this development.
The ILWU is fighting on many fronts and needs the support of the anti-
war movement.
'THERE WON'T BE ANOTHER PATCO'
When ILWU President James Spinosa emerged from the injunction hearing
to join a militant demonstration outside, a reporter asked him if he
thought the ILWU would become another PATCO--the Professional Air
Traffic Controllers Organization that was broken up by President
Ronald Reagan in 1981. Spinosa was heard to say over the chants, "You
don't know our union if you think we'll be another PATCO."
The air controllers had gone on strike on Aug. 3, 1981. Within 48
hours Reagan fired over 11,000. Lacking a serious fightback and with
hardly any support, PATCO and the strike were broken. The labor
movement suffered a major defeat.
The ILWU will not repeat this history. This union has won major
strikes and gained respect both here and abroad for its support of
labor and progressive struggles too numerous to mention.
The ILWU has a critical role to play in the development of a united
front as the war deepens and the capitalist crisis widens. It is an
integral player in the growing worldwide class struggle.
The dock workers are now on the front lines of this class war. They
have already taken casualties--deaths and injuries of their members--
as they fight to preserve their jobs, control of their hiring hall,
and a safe work environment in the face of brutal enemies such as the
PMA, the transnational companies and now the military.
This is a proud and progressive union with a rich history of struggle,
a union born and nurtured in the historic San Francisco 1934 general
strike. There will be no PATCO in the stormy days ahead.
(http://www.workers.org/)